How does one go about doing this?

4 Replies - 1281 Views - Last Post: 09 October 2010 - 09:19 AM

Keeping your last language fresh

Posted 08 October 2010 - 04:54 PM

I would like to get suggestions from the DIC community. I have been programming with C++ for a little over a year now. I would like to work with .NET, and have begun learning C#. The problem, I am a little hesitant to move into a second language this early. My fear is that i'll begin forgetting C++ specifics. At the same time, it appears that C# is on the up trend. I want to adopt a newer, more current language into my vocabulary. I know I can retain two languages, and I am just worrying way too much about his. I am curious though, how do guys or girls keep up on past languages?

Replies To: Keeping your last language fresh

Re: Keeping your last language fresh

Posted 08 October 2010 - 06:56 PM

By using them. It's really very simple. If you don't use a language for an extended time, you're going to get rusty. If you've used a language a lot, you'll never forget all of it, but you will almost certainly become rusty.

If you have projects that you're obligated to work on in C++, then you'll continue to work on them while learning and using C#. As long as you don't abandon previous languages entirely, you'll be fine.

Re: Keeping your last language fresh

Posted 09 October 2010 - 05:43 AM

Yeah, one idea I had was while learning C# to emulate the same program as closely as possible in C++. I still have a lot to learn about C++, primarily the STL. So that should keep me busy and up to date on both languages.

Re: Keeping your last language fresh

Posted 09 October 2010 - 09:19 AM

I am still learning both Java and Python. The way I see it though, once you learn how to program, it is just learning the syntax of the language. Also, some languages have components that don't have a counterpart in other languages, so you just have to learn to work around this.